For the first time, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) yesterday submitted to a parliamentary body a document listing the country's top taxpaying lawyers, doctors, engineers and architects, chartered accountants, contractors, real estate developers and buying house businessmen.

The paper shows three years' incomes and taxes paid by top 100 taxpayers of each group of professionals.

The NBR has come up with the list in compliance to the directive of a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on finance ministry in March last. In that meeting, the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) body observed that the country's tax collection does not reflect the economic growth of certain social segments.

The committee maintained that a large rich class of professionals, outside the private sector organisations, has burgeoned in the country in recent years, which should be brought into the large taxpayers' net.

In that meeting, committee member Moshiur Rahman Ranga said, though experts believe there are 30 lakh people who can pay tax, only a few of them actually pay it. He urged for more stringent laws to increase tax payment.

Committee member Shahjahan Chowdhury said, "Many of the rich professionals do pay taxes, but, where they should have paid a minimum of Tk 300,000, they actually pays may be 30,000 taka." He wanted to know from the NBR what policy it was pursuing in this connection, and also wanted a list of larger taxpayers, both at personal and company levels.

In response to Chowdhury's query the NBR chairman said the income-expenditure accounts shown by many rich people and businessmen are false. Consequently, the tax assessment becomes difficult.

On that occasion, Finance Minister Saifur Rahman said, "In third world countries like Bangladesh, there is a serious reluctance to taxpaying. It, therefore, is the role of the tax department to assess the exact taxes payable by those who maintain high living standards. But, unfortunately they [the taxmen] do not play their roles properly."

Committee chairman Mushfiqur Rahman then specifically asked the NBR to provide a list of top 100 taxpayers of each of the following groups: lawyers, engineers, doctors, chartered accountants, contractors, real estate developers and buying house businessmen.

The committee felt, despite doing a lot of business, the buying houses are not paying taxes like the garment industries do.

In compliance to the committee's directive, the NBR yesterday furnished it with the document. The committee, however, did not discuss the list yesterday as it focussed most of its deliberations on the budget proposals.

LAWYERS
Incomes and taxes paid in 2003-04 by a selected few of the lawyers listed in the NBR document are given below: